Participant social media experience
There was a wide gap between a very few people who use social media tools as part of their experience of events and most people who have not. For some participants “wikis” and “twitter” were new expressions for them. I think we should have collected this information beforehand (e.g. through a survey at the registration process) and integrated the information into the workshop design.
Create a profile of participant social media experience and expectations before the event.
Crafting the invitation
Participant expectations about social media and social reporting were not the same as the group coordinating team. We could have worked better to craft the invitation to participate in an event with social media (at the time of the invitation to the workshop) and to participate in activities using social media during the event (with the keepers of the output, for example).
Craft (and keep re-crafting) invitations to participate in new types of activities that involve social media with care and clarity.
Making assumptions
I had made a wrong assumption that the people in the group had already been working together and had collectively chosen to use social media for this event. At the event it it also became clear that some participants did not know that social media or a collective output was part of the workshop objectives. This was a wrong assumption.
Always check assumptions - before and during the event!
Technical and logistical issues
Fast bandwidth
Social reporting for this event relied on having fast uploading bandwidth. Although I requested fast upload bandwidth in my proposal, venue organisers often do not distinguish between the upload and download speed. I think that when setting up the social reporting for an event I should ask to speak directly with the person responsible for the technology at the venue.
Check and double check the bandwidth connection at events.
Location of social reporters
The social reporters table was outside the circle of activity by participants. While this has some advantages, it also contributed to the social reporting being an add-on or logistical activity rather than an integral part. It also made it too difficult to hear people talking on the other side of the room, which meant that we were missing some of what was going on.
Find a location for the home base for social reporters which both gives some privacy but is also a part of the activity.
Choice of tools
Privacy v ease of use
A lot of thought went into the choice of tools, considering privacy and ease of use. Getting the right balance between privacy and ease of use is not easy and my sense is that “it worked”. Essentially we had a private tool for process (Wordpress blog) and one private (Wikispaces) and one public (PBPL blog) tool for content. We should have done better testing of the private blog before the event to be sure that everyone could easily get into it.
Have a repertoire of public and private tools, testing entry from different computers into private tools in advance.
Membership profiling tool
I am undecided if we should have included a membership profiling tool in our repertoire of tools or if that would have added a further level of apparent complexity to participants. Perhaps the profiles in a PDF document were sufficient. However, the advantage of using a membership profiling tool such as Ning is that people have a permanent record of the members of the group and can, at minimum, stay updated with each other’s contact information.
Consider using a tool such as Ning in the tool repertoire at future events.
Social media as process and content
Better integration of social reporting and facilitation
My sense was that social reporting and social media ended up being a little bit of a side-show rather than being an integrated part of the fabric of the workshop. For example I was brought in “stage left” to talk about it and to present ways of capturing stuff, which meant talking from the front about it, rather than doing it and reflecting on doing it. Ideally I think we should work more on integrating social reporting as a boundary practice in the landscape of practices rather than a recording or publishing activity.
Work towards making social reporting a possibility for supporting and extending conversations about the content of the workshop and not merely as an end in itself.
Tension as a learning opportunity
Use of social media tools made many people uncomfortable. Feeling like you are someone who “doesn’t know”, or who is out of control of the knowing can be challenging and creates tension. By the end of the workshop many people reported feeling enthusiastic, empowered or more knowledgeable about the use of the tools. Embracing tension and discomfort as part of the process of introducing the tools may be part of the job of the social reporter and facilitator and an opportunity for talking about issues related to identity.
Explore the possibilities of using or reflecting on the tension brought up by social media to have conversations about identity.
Planning and emergence
Good administrative support
We had an excellent administration support team for this event, which was very helpful for initiating and following up logistical issues and on following up the detail on the wiki. This contributed towards a better final product. We should have done more training on the previous day with the administrative team that could have avoided some of the bottlenecks.
Appreciate and make the most of good administrative support.
Avoiding social reporting bottlenecks
Part of this could have been prevented by more coordinated preparation on the previous day. It also would have benefitted from having someone in the team who is pro-active and curious about social media in and of itself. The training should also have been with someone who was confident and experienced enough to take initiative in the iterative process of social reporting and in being creative in finding workarounds for the ongoing tool problems that always arise.
Ideally the social reporting team needs at least two people who are confident with social media tools and the context to look for workarounds.
Social reporter orchestrating the process
Although we had a good final product and involved people in the making of it, I would like my role as to be more about using social media to deepen the conversations and less concerned with making the technology work. We often had situations where some people had nothing to do while I was struggling with technology tasks. However, it is not easy to streamline and teach tasks when you are using social media. It requires ongoing improvisation and creativeness with the tools, which is more difficult to teach people to do. The times when this has worked for me have been when working in a team with another social reporter who took on more of the technology side and I could focus on the social side. If this is not possible, then there should be an additional day for preparing someone in the organization support team.
Make preparations for the social reporter (or one of the social reporters in a team of social reporters) to be orchestrating the process rather than focusing on the technology.
Reflections and lessons
Expectations and assumptions
Participant social media experience
There was a wide gap between a very few people who use social media tools as part of their experience of events and most people who have not. For some participants “wikis” and “twitter” were new expressions for them. I think we should have collected this information beforehand (e.g. through a survey at the registration process) and integrated the information into the workshop design.
Crafting the invitation
Participant expectations about social media and social reporting were not the same as the group coordinating team. We could have worked better to craft the invitation to participate in an event with social media (at the time of the invitation to the workshop) and to participate in activities using social media during the event (with the keepers of the output, for example).
Making assumptions
I had made a wrong assumption that the people in the group had already been working together and had collectively chosen to use social media for this event. At the event it it also became clear that some participants did not know that social media or a collective output was part of the workshop objectives. This was a wrong assumption.
Technical and logistical issues
Fast bandwidth
Social reporting for this event relied on having fast uploading bandwidth. Although I requested fast upload bandwidth in my proposal, venue organisers often do not distinguish between the upload and download speed. I think that when setting up the social reporting for an event I should ask to speak directly with the person responsible for the technology at the venue.
Location of social reporters
The social reporters table was outside the circle of activity by participants. While this has some advantages, it also contributed to the social reporting being an add-on or logistical activity rather than an integral part. It also made it too difficult to hear people talking on the other side of the room, which meant that we were missing some of what was going on.
Choice of tools
Privacy v ease of use
A lot of thought went into the choice of tools, considering privacy and ease of use. Getting the right balance between privacy and ease of use is not easy and my sense is that “it worked”. Essentially we had a private tool for process (Wordpress blog) and one private (Wikispaces) and one public (PBPL blog) tool for content. We should have done better testing of the private blog before the event to be sure that everyone could easily get into it.
Membership profiling tool
I am undecided if we should have included a membership profiling tool in our repertoire of tools or if that would have added a further level of apparent complexity to participants. Perhaps the profiles in a PDF document were sufficient. However, the advantage of using a membership profiling tool such as Ning is that people have a permanent record of the members of the group and can, at minimum, stay updated with each other’s contact information.
Social media as process and content
Better integration of social reporting and facilitation
My sense was that social reporting and social media ended up being a little bit of a side-show rather than being an integrated part of the fabric of the workshop. For example I was brought in “stage left” to talk about it and to present ways of capturing stuff, which meant talking from the front about it, rather than doing it and reflecting on doing it. Ideally I think we should work more on integrating social reporting as a boundary practice in the landscape of practices rather than a recording or publishing activity.
Tension as a learning opportunity
Use of social media tools made many people uncomfortable. Feeling like you are someone who “doesn’t know”, or who is out of control of the knowing can be challenging and creates tension. By the end of the workshop many people reported feeling enthusiastic, empowered or more knowledgeable about the use of the tools. Embracing tension and discomfort as part of the process of introducing the tools may be part of the job of the social reporter and facilitator and an opportunity for talking about issues related to identity.
Planning and emergence
Good administrative support
We had an excellent administration support team for this event, which was very helpful for initiating and following up logistical issues and on following up the detail on the wiki. This contributed towards a better final product. We should have done more training on the previous day with the administrative team that could have avoided some of the bottlenecks.
Avoiding social reporting bottlenecks
Part of this could have been prevented by more coordinated preparation on the previous day. It also would have benefitted from having someone in the team who is pro-active and curious about social media in and of itself. The training should also have been with someone who was confident and experienced enough to take initiative in the iterative process of social reporting and in being creative in finding workarounds for the ongoing tool problems that always arise.
Social reporter orchestrating the process
Although we had a good final product and involved people in the making of it, I would like my role as to be more about using social media to deepen the conversations and less concerned with making the technology work. We often had situations where some people had nothing to do while I was struggling with technology tasks. However, it is not easy to streamline and teach tasks when you are using social media. It requires ongoing improvisation and creativeness with the tools, which is more difficult to teach people to do. The times when this has worked for me have been when working in a team with another social reporter who took on more of the technology side and I could focus on the social side. If this is not possible, then there should be an additional day for preparing someone in the organization support team.
Also see:
About the social reporting document
About social reporting
Landscapes of Practices workshop
Workshop tool preparation
What happened?
Closing thoughts